From goffmac747@aol.com Mon Feb 08 10:09:12 2010
Subject:Re: Clavia../Hammond prices
I was told this in the mid-90's circa 1997 when the gentleman tech came out to look at my Hammond in Oceanside California. He was referring to the factory's cost in materials but I'm not sure about the labor to be accurate. I really want to say we discussed the total cost to Hammond for the "parts." And I think I reiterated to him if the figure he quoted covered the entire organ, cabinet. Keep in mind Hammond as with any company ordering in bulk to get warehouse prices on parts.
The tech was supposed to come back and bring me a part, but something happened, think he got sick. He was a respected Hammond man in San Diego. I can't swear but he may have even worked on Gregg Rollie's equipment since Gregg lived down that way at the time and Hammond guys were getting scarce, most of them up in age. So Gregg may remember him also. I have forgotten the man's name but he was in the yellow pages in SD during the 90's in case anyone is interested in researching. There was another younger man in the area that worked on my Hammond and Gregg's so there was more than one servicing Hammonds in the 90's in the SD area. Can't recall his name either.
There's also Fish Organs in SD and they may know history of this gentleman and Hammonds in general as George Fish has been in business since 1995.
http://www.fishorgans.com/
It wouldn't surprise me if the gentleman and Fish organs are related in some way but not really sure. Just in case that turns out to be. I forgot who I called.
Oops...May have been Bob Blake... who was pals with Tom Petro.
http://www.tompetro.com/HAMMOND/BOBBLAKEtribute.html
A new B3 with 122, bench, pedals, covers, roll-or-karys cost me $3600 American in 1971 bought new from Ranier's Piano and Organ in Omaha Nebraska.
That was $300 more than I paid for a new 1972 Chevy Kingswood Station wagon with a 350 and AC.
If you figure I was told this in the 90's and the last run of the B3 was in the (mid?) 70's the tech still active at that time must have had current info since everything he worked on was a used discontinued B3 era Hammond. And he was working on mine at the time he said it reaching around inside the B3.
If you subtract the cost of the 122, the covers, and ROK's you'll have the cost (to me) of the B3 which was IIRC about $2600 American in 1971. Don't know the dealer list on the B3 but if it cost $500 (what the gentleman told me) to make and then get it out there to make a profit that leaves $2100 for S&H and profits for Hammond and the dealer but its a wild guess on my part.
Since the people who were around when Hammond was US based are elderly and Hammond is no longer an American company, it would behoove any researchers to write and call these people or the people who knew them while you can to track down info. Companies have a way of losing track of tis own history when changing hands especially.
-----Original Message-----
From: rrockkey <rockkey@sbcglobal.net>
To: CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Mon, Feb 8, 2010 10:14 pm
Subject: [CWSG] Re: Clavia
$500? In what model year was that? And what was the retail price at the time. These two additional pieces of info will paint a much clearer picture.
People often quote prices and costs but it's useless without a point of reference to make any sense of it.
Thanks,
Rock
--- In CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com, goffmac747@... wrote:
>
> I was told some years ago by an old Hammond tech from San Diego,?that the cost to make a B3 was around $500.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ripplevac ripplevac@...
> To: CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Mon, Feb 8, 2010 8:16 am
> Subject: [CWSG] Re: Clavia
>
> ?
>
> ?I doubt the entire hardware and cabinet fabrication costs exceed $1000 USD.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]